A mosaic of all things copacetic

This past weekend, I attended my very first Oppikoppi festival in Northam, Limpopo.

Went alone to a place I’d never been.

I think I’m still reeling from how incredible that festival is, plus still coughing from all the dust stuck in my chest. It was also my tent sleeping experience. Froze the first night. I had a beautiful time and wouldn’t change a second of it. Even getting lost on my way there. Highlights: Sharing my tent with the super amazing and gorgeous Georgia Gardner of Rolling Stone Magazine. Finding friends, making friends, losing all of them and starting all over again, almost every two hours, encountering friendly and crazy strangers. The Red Bull stage was my absolute favourite – even with it’s rocky hike holding on for dear life to a rope I wasn’t sure would keep up. The sunset over one of the stage’s as Vusi Mahlasela sang my soul to releasing all anxiety. Meeting twitter people I like and enjoy. Drinking a weird concoction involving tequila, vanilla vodka, tobasco sauce and juices. Sitting around a big fire in the wee hours of the night with some strangers talking about everything and nothing. Having random people point and scream hey, it’s Akona with the tequila’, having my client, MK, email on Monday to jokingly say “at this point, MK would like to distance themselves from Akona, who was easily the biggest party animal of the weekend. Finally, having been able to share the experiences with people online, as well as those who were physically there. I loved everything, even the dust, the endless walking (and the aching body afterwards), the traffic (took 7 hours to get home) and my clutch leg dying almost as soon as I got near the bathtub for the post-Oppi scrub.

Nothing can prepare you for Oppikoppi, no matter what. Other than the essentials, an open mind and jolly deposition are all you really need.

Found loads of pictures that require some time to get through – for now, here’s moi